Secret_History

78 The Secret History of the World
What are the sources of Mouravieff’s knowledge? It is clear that his text consists of
knowledge of a high order.
There are several ways in which the accuracy of a text can be verified, and
Mouravieff’s stands up to all these methods of assay. First of all, it fits the
Orthodox tradition as expressed by those who still possess the Royal Way. It
evokes the confirmation of inspiration described in Plato’s seventh letter. It
predicts, in what appears at first to be mere theory, the actual events of the life in
the study of Gnosis. It stands the test of practice, and in doing so it remains
internally consistent. When it does introduce ideas from other traditions, such as the
concept of karma, it does so in ways that, properly understood, remain consistent to
the overall statement of the doctrine with a degree of precision equal to that of the
mature external sciences.
Those who can discriminate between different levels of knowledge will find in
Mouravieff an almost inexhaustible treasury of knowledge that can lead to true
spiritual transformation. But it is necessary first to work for this discrimination.
Without it, not only will you be unable to differentiate between gnosis and its
imitations, but even Mouravieff’s work will not release its gnosis to you in trust.
The idea of esotericism is often misunderstood. The clue can be found in the
Gospel of Saint John: “I am the vine, ye are the branches: he that abideth in me, and
I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.”
The word translated “without”, the Greek “choris”, quite definitely means
“outside”. What this means is that in those times there was an inner knowledge,
based on assenting to traditional knowledge - gnosis - which is then confirmed
experimentally through techniques of inner observation, and a purely external kind
of knowledge, gained through the ordinary senses.
Constantine Cavarnos confirmed that there is an exoteric and esoteric Christianity:
“The first kind of philosophy, external philosophy, comprises for them ancient
Greek philosophy and the pagan philosophy of early Christian centuries. The
second kind, “internal philosophy”, is identical with the [true] Christian religion.”
[The Hellenic Christian Philosophical Tradition, Institute for Byzantine and
Modern Greek Studies, Belmont, MA, 1989. p. 109, quoted by Robin Amis in the
introduction to Mouravieff’s Gnosis II]
Over the years, this esotericism has formed a Tradition, a science, or discipline of
knowledge which may have existed before the time of Christ, but which has since
been totally assimilated to the inner meaning of Christianity. Boris Mouravieff says
that, “This Tradition, which in Antiquity was only revealed in the Mysteries under
the seal of absolute secrecy.”
Under the influence of self-proclaimed initiates of The Tradition such as Guenon
and Schwaller, Mouravieff has, unfortunately adopted and included many false
teachings in his “social commentary” included in the three volumes of Gnosis.
Among these errors, he includes the idea that this Tradition passed from Egypt to
Judaea and thus to Christianity - at least not Egypt as we understand it today. What
is clear is that the True Tradition of the Eleusinian mysteries is behind
Christianity, and it was the Egyptian Tradition elucidated and popularized by
Schwaller and other Western occultists that is at the root of the false teaching that
corrupted and distorted the work of the man we have come to know as Jesus. It is
only in more recent times, with much additional research, including that of